D*Face and Kaspersky Go The Extra Electric Mile at Moniker Art Fair

Kaspersky Lab collaborates with British street artist D*Face and drives the 1970’s art car concept into the 21st century.

The 10th Moniker Art Fair attempts to bring global issues to the forefront during one of the busiest weeks in London’s art calendar. The theme this year is ‘Uncensored’ – and focuses on economic, social and ecological themes through various media.

Translated for non-motorheads like me, the Formula E is a very high-performance electric racing car. Experts believe Formula E is the future of motor racing both socially and environmentally.

A little bit of history about the Art Car. The first one was commissioned by BMW in 1975, with a paint scheme that changed the face of racing cars forever.

The human bridge between BMW and the art world was Hervé Poulain an auctioneer and semi-professional racing car driver. He asked American artist and friend Alexander Calder, known for his ‘moving’ kinetic mobiles, to paint a ‘moving canvas’ and the Art Car was born. The ‘Calder’ car went on to be raced in the Le Mans endurance race. Artists such as Hockney, Warhol and Lichtenstein have all ‘painted’ Art Cars for BMW since then.

Fast forward to 2018 and the current collaboration between Kaspersky Lab and urban artist D*Face culminates in the ‘Save the World’ Formula E Art Car. This is no ordinary Art Car, it’s a racing car with a global conscience and hard-hitting message. It’s also the first Formula E Art Car ever made.

D*Face Car at Moniker Art Fair

Kaspersky Lab approached D*Face, the brief was to alter the perception of motor racing and reinforce the radical statement that art can ‘Save the World.’

D*Face started as an artist by doodling and drawing characters out of boredom at his work desk, these characters soon took on a world of their own. He swapped pencil for permanent marker and his paid job for the street.

He made stickers, posters – whatever he could turn his talent to. He pasted the posters and stickers wherever he went, re-surfaced his London neighbourhood and beyond. Changing the urban landscape, he rose through the underground movement of British popular culture

Together, D*Face and Kaspersky Lab’s collaboration has pumped new life into the high-end hot rod car concept.

D*Face has created a bold, high-impact, iconic and colourful body for the new Virgin Racing Formula E car. His signature style, tag and painted wings add recognisable trademarks to the street-pop piece.

The D*Face Art Car and Total Security v.2019 collaboration is the latest in a series of artworks celebrating the ‘Save the World’ concept. The artist has also painted a large-scale mural in Brooklyn, New York and designed ‘Art Helmets’ for Virgin Racing drivers Sam Bird and Alex Lynn at the season finale in New York.

D*Face hopes that his work will force viewers to consider the notion that they too have the power to be a superhero and save the world, in his words;

“Does everyone have a good and bad element to them, and how much does the bad outweigh the good? In times like now, we all need to take on the mantra of the superhero and help ‘Save the World’. It is time for all of us to stand together and make a change. Be that stopping data-steals, addressing climate change, plastic waste, or using damaging fuels. We all have the power to do one thing that will help make a change…”

Kaspersky Lab has cleverly chosen a medium which gets the message for radical change across. Formula E is an extreme and highly visible sport. It is in the unique position to initiate much-needed discussions about climate change and accelerate technological developments in the world of e-mobility.

The art car is part of an ongoing series of commissioned collaborations between the artist and the cybersecurity firm. As well as the car, D*Face’s design for the limited-edition boxes of Kaspersky’s Total Security 2 v.2019 product will also be on show at the Moniker Art Fair from 4-7 October 2018.